Philo+Sophia, Love of Wisdom, A Student Resource

We’ll finish my ‘Hoffman's, Case Against Reality, 'Playing Basketball in Zerogravity, review project’ by looking at the serious side of philosophy.  It seems only fair considering some of my wise ass remarks in previous segments.

I’ll admit to having issues with the showboats who demonstrate little respect for honesty, and constructive learning.  As for serious philosophy, that I can relate to on a personal homegrown level.  

That’s why I’m grateful to Lausten over at CFI for sharing a genuinely insightful talk by Richard Carrier, explaining what philosophy was, is and isn’t.  I’ve rerun it a couple times and it keeps improving.  It's a wonderfully fitting closing segment for this review, and I hope Skepticon doesn’t mind me sharing some of Carrier's posters. 

For the complete set see, RichardCarrier.info/philosophy.

HamboneProductions

Skepticon

(Missing key to) A Scientific Explanation For God? | Joe Scott

Joe started 2016 with one of the biggest questions of all - does God exist?

I started Joe's video with a cynicism that evaporated as Joe’s perspective unfolded. His well told story impressed.  It helped that his words resonated with my own evolving experience.  

Still while listening, at times, an image of playing basketball in zero gravity crept into my imagination because, like so many others, Joe lacked a fundamental frame of reference to stabilize the mind boggling complexities and conflicting notions of our inner and outer worlds that he was doing his best to rationally discuss.

Something so fundamental it’s never thought about, ergo its implications remain lost to us.  Namely, recognizing the profound difference between our Human Mindscape (individual and collective) and Physical Reality.

This lack of a clear baseline appreciation for our own brain’s* place in the universe leads to all sorts of hubristic assumptions, and a reflexive disregard for information outside of one’s own realm. 

Index for Confronting Science Contrarians, citizenschallenge

Lets close out 2019 with an index of previous posts.  

Happy New Year (what a shame it rings more hollow than in times past.)  

A healthy democracy requires and informed and engaged citizenry.

My Mission Statement:

We The People have a moral ethical right - along with a pragmatic need - to learn what scientists have learned about this planet's biosphere and climate engine without constant dishonest crossfire.     

We should not tolerate serious scientists always being drown out by amoral, dishonest and frankly ignorant arguments - that an astoundingly ruthless PR factory repeats over and over again, without ever learning a damned thing from the evidence in front of us.       ( email @ citizenschallenge gmail com )

Confronting Science Contrarians BLOG ARCHIVE:

Pageant of Earth's Evolution (in 24hr) part one

Pageant of Earth's Evolution (in 24hr) part two

• ▼  2019 (83)
• ▼  December (7)
• Diary, 12/25/2019 - Rhetorical Jujutsu, case in point
• Questioning the Geologic Column. Mind over Matter.
• Examining an Intellectual Juvenile Delinquent, "Anonymous", Dec 12, 2019
• Bringing it back to Earth Centrism
• Pageant of Earth's Evolution (in 24hr) part two
• Introduction to Cc's Pageant of Evolution project.
• Pageant of Earth's Evolution (in 24hr) part one

What is Deep Time? Why does it matter?

The universe is ancient - 50,000 times older than our species. On a cosmic time scale, human history is as brief as the blink of an eye.   www.melodysheep.com

In discussing my upcoming column in the FCFP with a few people, it seems that Deep Time is still a new and challenging concept for many.  

It's something I've been contemplating on for decades, and it seem to me if one wants to defend Reality Thinking, that is defend Earth's geophysical facts against the GOP's God of ME FIRST ad hoc PR reality, an appreciating Deep Time is an indispensable tool.  For one its key to making sense of Evolution, that is Earth's four and half thousand million years of Creation unfolding one day at a time.*  And evolution is the only way we can hope to put today's radical geophysical transitions into a realistic perspective. 

I'll share my most fun interaction, 

"Whoa, Peter! You’re blowing my mind!  

Are you a geologist?  

DEEP TIME!?!?!  

I haven’t read through or watched all the links, but I will definitely have to come back to the one about “Deep Time!”  

I don’t, not believe it, but it does frustrate me because I want to grasp the whole picture!  

How did it all come to be & why?   

Is there a reason & will I ever know it ?????          HA! 

After this, how could I not try a little harder to find worthy YouTube video.  One that better conveys our current understanding in as humanly accessible  a way as possible.  The folks at Melodysheep have taken it one leap beyond what's been produced up to now.  Watched more than once, it gets better.

Published by melodysheep, March 9, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBikbn5XJhg

Fruits of Ignoring Deliberate Deception

Psalm1Tree, a YouTube drive-by shooter, inspired me to write a column for the FourCornersFreePress which in turn caused me to compose the previous three 'footnote' posts, "meeting" James Hutton, William Smith, Blakey and Ranney.  I won't be posting the column until after the first of month, {the complete column has been posted } still the previous three footnotes demand some sort of follow up, so I'm sharing a key portion of what I'm trying to get across in this month's column. 

... Unfortunately, after decades of ignoring such belligerent denial of reality about important aspects of our life and planet, in the service of GOP political war strategies, it has become so insidious and commonplace that we find our government increasingly controlled by Republicans who feel empowered to blatantly disregard obvious down to Earth physical realities on personal whim. 

Justified only by a hubristic conceit that they are doing “God’s duty,” when in honesty they are all about pursuing their own EGO’s bidding. 

Since it matters to me,

Is Faith-based Thinking: God or EGO?

I've reached out to some internet acquaintances, some scientists and communicators, telling them about this new blogging effort, trying to get a little feedback.  Nothing much by way of response, these are busy people with bigger concerns filling their days, plus they come from a more establishment background.  And me, what am I, a terrified spectator, low on anyone's priority list.  Plus most simply don't understand what I'm trying do, which I shouldn't be surprised at.  In many ways they can't understand me any better than I can understand them.  Still, I try, so along with a couple other posts, I shared my list of 14 Observations regarding communication failures. 

One response I did receive is worth considering in more detail:

"Your section 12 Faith-Based Thinking makes absolutely no sense to me."

On reread the text it seemed straightforward enough, so I figured the main problem was with my convoluted title and I made it more concise; 

12)  Faith-based Thinking - God or EGO?

Possessing the hubris to fancy that we petty, jealous, fearful, prideful humans can access and understand the real God of Light and Time, Life and Love, leads to a profound disconnect from our planet’s physical reality, and an immoral absolutism.  

It's one thing to believe in an unknowable god, quite another to mistake one’s own hyper-inflated EGO for God. 

Unhinged from reality is not too harsh a descriptive.

I shared my change and added some explanation.

The right-wing and evangelical faithful tell us to our faces that they are in direct communication with God Almighty of Time and Light, Creation and Life.  They tell us they are doing God's duty.  For instance, it's God demanding that Government interfer with a woman's right to self-determination and to self-defense when it comes to having a child, or not - though it matters not one bit to the State what any woman does with herself.  

It's God telling people that Evolution is Satan's plan and that liberals are enemies who are going to hell.  They really and truly believe and broadcast it.  It's God telling them scientists are liars.

That is something Children of the Intellectual Enlightenment really ought to start facing up front - it demands a new sort of language and questions and open rejection of such nonsense.